'30 Pages in 30 Days' competition Feb. 24

Last fall, the Prescott Park Arts Festival held a playwriting competition that challenged and guided aspiring playwrights to use drama to explore complex social issues affecting their communities.

Seventeen playwrights submitted original work as part of the “30 Pages in 30 Days” competition. Three finalists were selected by a panel of judges and they will perform their plays in a live staged reading competition followed by a talkback session on Friday, Feb. 24. The three finalists are "Over the Fence" by Catherine Stewart, "When The Tide Comes In" by Sharleigh Thomson and "Uprising" by Susan Sinnott.

Critical to the “30 Pages in 30 Days” project was a series of workshops facilitated by award-winning playwrights David Kaye of the University of New Hampshire and Genevieve Aichele of the New Hampshire Theatre Project. The workshops taught participants how to write a producible play while focusing on community challenges. Participants learned specific methods for developing scripts from the raw material of oral or written histories, news articles, and personal stories. They learned how to find the best dramatic style for a particular story, transforming narrative into dialogue, uncovering universal archetypes and metaphor in raw material, and incorporating the poetry of everyday language.

Based on the belief that playwriting and performing can help bridge gaps of understanding, organizers of the competition believe the project will give playwrights — and audiences — the opportunity to examine the complexity of the human experience in relation to a chosen social issue.

The public is invited to the Feb. 24 reading competition, which begins at 7 p.m. at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre. There is a $5 suggested donation. Visit www.prescottpark.org/events/30in30. The winner selected on Feb. 24 will receive a $500 cash prize and the opportunity to have the show produced during the 2017 Prescott Park Arts Festival season.

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